The primary objective of the Collaborations and Partnerships Core (CPC) is to foster productive and sustainable partnerships with a broad group of stakeholders committed to improving health outcomes for minority, low income, and other vulnerable populations. The CPC will maintain the link and engagement between the Gulf States CC and the targeted communities, including policy makers, investigators, community-based organizations and leaders, potential research participants, community health-care systems and providers, faith-based and grassroots organizations, and community residents. We seek to engage, train, and prepare communities to meaningfully respond to and initiate policy changes that affect their health and well-being. Geographically, we are uniquely positioned to engage a culturally diverse population. The targeted geographic area includes some of the most impoverished and vulnerable communities in the nation, with a high proportion of minorities, especially African Americans, Latinos, Vietnamese, and Cambodians. The CPC leaders are well-established partners of the targeted communities in Alabama and Mississippi, as well as throughout the Gulf Region, and the Core will build on the success of previous community and institutional capacity developed by the community outreach programs of the BayouCiinic, the P60 Center of Excellence (COE) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the initiatives led by the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). As such, the CPC will serve as a resource for the Gulf States CC and with its strong community infrastructure, assist the Gulf States CC in its efforts to lead the region in evidence-based, community-initiated policy change that will significantly reduce racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities.